Early Days

The area now called Irvington was originally populated by the Weckquaskeck Indians who lived in the area as late as 1775. The first European settlers
were Dutch, but the area was taken over by the English in 1664.

There were four known original settlers in the area. Stephen Ecker, came from Holland in about 1650 to work for the Dutch West India Company and established a plantation
on the present Sunnyside site. About thirty years later, his wife’s uncle, Jan Harmse, cleared land on the southwest side of the present Dows Lane,
where his house (later known as Odell Tavern) still stands. (left)
Shortly before 1700, Captain John Buckhout settled near the river where the present Trent
Building stands and Barent Dutcher established a farm on what is now Matthiessen Park.

The settlers who came in during the early 1700’s were mostly artisans – coopers, blacksmiths and shipbuilders. Their chief means of
transportation was the river. However, in 1703, the Queen’s highway, named for Queen Anne, was built from New York City to Albany, When George I
became King, the road was renamed the King’s Highway.

Revolution

After the battle of White Plains in 1776, British and Hessian soldiers were encamped on the Odell and Buckhout farms. Hessian soldiers partially destroyed the Dutcher house, and the British galleys fired on and burned the old Echer house in the winter of 1777.
By the war's end, hardly a tree, fence, or building was left standing in this vicinity.

After the Revolution, the four original farms were divided. In 1817, Justus Dearman of New York bought one-half of the Dutcher farm.
A portion of the Dearman farmhouse, the first house in the village proper, still stands on the south side of Main Street near Broadway.
Washington Irving purchased the Echar house that had been rebuilt after the war. He lived there until his death in 1859.
Both his regional writings and his creation of Sunnyside as an “elegant little snuggery” had a lasting effect on the village.
James Hamilton, son of Alexander Hamilton, bought a portion of the Odell farm in 1837 and built “Nevis”, an estate named after the West
Indies Island where his father had been born.

A Place Called Dearman

In 1848, Dearman sold his property to John Jay, a nephew of the Chief Justice, and Franklin C. Field. Field had the property laid out in lots as
the Village of Dearman. In 1850, these lots were publically auctioned at the Merchants’ Exchange in New York. The village was called Dearman Town.
The name was changed to Irvington in 1854.

Irvington developed rapidly in the latter half of the nineteenth century. In 1849, the railroad came to Irvington. From 1860 to 1890, the population
increased from about 600 to over 2000. Through these decades Irvington increasingly became an area of wealthy estates. Among the names to be found
here were Morgan, Field, Astor, Coffin, Cottenet, Tiffany, Bierstadt, Harriman, Barney, and Dows.

Village Center

The village proper also saw many developments during these years, but physically it has changed little. The buildings in the village are chiefly
either moderate-sized frame homes or small shops devoted to trade. Schools and churches were built. The Lord & Burnham Horticultural
Architects & Builders, Irvington’s first industry, was established. In 1872, Irvington was incorporated as a village. A president and board of
trustees were elected and the village boundaries, comprising 1,850 acres, were established. The organization of the village government has remained
the same since that time. It was not until the 1920’s that the title president was changed to mayor. In the 1880’s the first firehouse was built,
gaslights were installed on the street, and the waterworks were constructed.

Town Hall

In 1869, the property where Town Hall now stand was first developed as a circulating library by a local organization called The Mental and Mortal
Improvement Society. Through the years the village needs grew and the society conveyed the property to the village with the condition that it maintains,
in perpetuity, a library and reading room in the building.

Irvington Town Hall was built in 1902 from a design by local
architect Albert J. Manning, who used an early Colonial Revival architectural style for the
civic building. Financial assistance came from some of the wealthier residents. Frederick W. Guiteau, a member of the society, endowed the library
with $10.000. Helen Gould, who had grown up in nearby Lyndhurst, contributed the cost of the interior furnishings and made Tiffany’s work possible.
The building was home to the village government, the police department, the fire department, a library
and theater. Town Hall became the center of
Irvington’s public life. The 432 seat theater held many cultural events featuring village residents and visiting celebrities. In 1984, the building
was listed on the National Register for Historic Places.

By the 1990’s the library was in need of space and had to comply with the American Disabilities Act. It moved into another local historic structure, the
Lord and Burnham Building on South Astor Street. The reading room, called the “Tiffany Room”, remains in the Town Hall to fulfill the requirements of the
original deed.

The Twentieth Century

The railroad was electrified between 1912 & 1913, changing the character of Irvington to that of a suburban commuting village.

Following World War I, several of the large estates were sold and subdivided, creating the neighborhoods known as Spiro Park, Cedar Ridge, Riverview Road and
Hudson View Park. In the thirties, the first large apartment building, Hudson House (now a coop) was built. After World War II, the Half
Moon Cooperative apartments were built along the river, and five garden-type apartment houses were constructed along Broadway.

In the 1980’s, Irvington’s population reached 6,000. New homes continue to be built, but in spite of the inevitable changes brought about by the
increased population, Irvington remains a pleasant Hudson River village. As it continues to grow and look to the future, it never loses its connection
to its historic past.